Seastar is an ambitious space in a likeable place: A spanking new swanky seafood restaurant next door to the Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle, right above Whole Foods.

That description of Seastar’s location also serves as an apt description of its fare: One step above Whole Foods, next to 4-star status but not in the same league. If the space reminds you of an anonymous, expensive team-designed production, so will the food. It’s technically slick but soulless.

There were five of us on Friday night, and we ate early, so there was no excuse, really, for the slow service. Five minutes for the menus–I timed it. Another 10 for our server to take our orders.

If the food had been splendid, all would have been forgiven. But the scallop penne was goopy and pedestrian, the Caesar boring, and the steak OK. Even the kids wouldn’t eat their meals: More oversauced pasta with chunks of chicken–though we had specifically requested no meat, please.

Of the starters, the lone bright spot was the crab and corn chowder, which was sweet with corn and nuanced with crab. The cedar plank roasted mushrooms sounded great, but were really just a bowl of large, slightly undercooked mushroom chunks with a slightly smoky flavor. The pesto-steamed butter clams were interesting, but the overwhelmingly salty pesto soon turned my mouth numb.

On account of that lovely chowder, I’m willing to give Seastar another try. The menu is huge, and it’s entirely possible we had bad luck ordering. Though it was a Friday night, and the place wasn’t exactly hopping.